Arizona Cardinals Taking a Look at CFL's Cameron Wake

by Hawkwind on Jan 16, 2009 9:34 AM MST in News Comment 8 comments

From the desk of 'odd news' the Arizona Cardinals are bringing in Cameron Wake from the Canadian Football League today for a workout. If they did sign him it would be for next season, but I guess scouting doesn't slow down even if you're in the NFC Championship game. According to Kent Somers, the Cardinals aren't the only NFL team that's interested in the former Penn State product. He worked out for the Dolphins on Thursday and has reportedly drawn interest from the Colts, Saints and Vikings.

I don't know much about the CFL or how their level of competion translates to the NFL but looking at his stats, I can see why they'd at least take a look at him. He's about to turn 27 and he's spent the past two seasons with the BC Lions. During that times he's racked up 39 sacks, including 23 this past season, and he's been the CFL's defensive player of the year both seasons, as well as numerous other awards. Wake finished his career at Penn State with 191 tackles, 8.5 sacks and 24 tackles for loss while playing mostly as a linebacker but he switched positions to defensive end once he signed with the BC Lions. He signed with the Giants after being undrafted in 2005 but was cut in 2006 (I'm assuming he spent a year on the practice squad). He's got the size to play linebacker in the NFL (6'3 240) but he's still a long-shot at best to stick with a team. Any Penn State alumns out there who've seen this guy or CFL fans?

Update: Thanks to Screen Name 20 for informing us that Cam Wake is also Derek Wake. I was wondering why I couldn't find any information on him before his time in Canada and that was the reason. Now that I'm searching for Derek Wake, we're finding out alot more information. He's obviously a tremendous athlete. In fact he owns the second highest verticle jump ever recorded at the NFL combine and he ran in the high 4.4's at Penn State's pro day. Wake was three year starter at Penn State and a team captian as a Senior. The kid's obviously a great athlete, we'll see if he's an NFL player.

He certainly looks like an interesting prospect and a low-risk investment:

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dude might make a great rotational player at outside backer.

by hevchv on Jan 16, 2009 10:17 AM MST reply actions 0 recs

Exactly...

Berry is a FA next year. LaBoy’s durability is a big question now. Okeafor is losing a step.

CFL is a much more pass happy game being that you only have three downs to convert rather than four. So effectively you can just blitz and blitz from the outside. He must have some great speed to rack up numbers like that. He should come at a reasonable price too.

We all leave footprints in the sands of time, just watch out for the discarded fish hooks!

by Hawkwind on Jan 16, 2009 10:39 AM MST up reply actions 0 recs

Believe it or not

Ive seen him play live. Twice

Unfortunately I was wasted both times, although I do remember Some huge sacks during those games..

by Irishcardinal on Jan 16, 2009 11:52 AM MST reply actions 0 recs

First thing...

I thought about when I saw this was Cameron Wake? I remember Derek Wake from Penn State. Sure enough, after a google search they are one and the same.

He was an excellent athlete, reminded me a lot of Lavar Arrington. If I remember correctly, he had a history of injury issues though.

by Screen Name 20 on Jan 16, 2009 11:54 AM MST reply actions 0 recs

He looks tough.

Unfortunetly that doesnt alwasy translate into the NFL.

Hey, hey, hey hey hey, watch the language, ok? I have a family.
Revenge of the Birds

by Andrew602 on Jan 16, 2009 12:21 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

Cameron Wake

I’m a huge fan of both the CFL and the B.C. Lions, and Wake is one of the most dominant players I’ve ever seen in the league. He only had three sacks less than an entire team (the Hamilton Tiger-Cats). He’s probably too small to play rush end in the NFL, but he would make a fantastic outside linebacker in a 3-4 a la Joey Porter. On the injury front, it seems to me that he’s been healthy for most of the last two years with the Lions, but my memory could be faulty. He probably should have won overall MVP this year as well as defensive MVP (and was being mentioned in that conversation), but it went to a quarterback as always. Anyway, I think Wake would do very well with the Cardinals.

Queen's Journal Sports Editor.
Personal sports blog at www.sportingmadness.blogspot.com.
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by Andrew Bucholtz on Jan 16, 2009 10:56 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

Wake...

As a PSU fan I saw him play live many times…

He did have a history of injuries. Maybe now that he’s paying more attention to his body and less attention on distractors (like computers and partying, according to the video above), he’ll be more in shape and less prone to those. He was actually getting pressure for PSU against Miami in 2001, until he had a season ending injury.

His success at PSU came when he was rushing the passer, which is a great way to use someone his size with his speed. Unfortunately, he’d get lost in coverage and was a liability when not rushing straight up the field. His senior year, PSU had Tamba Hali and Matt Rice at the DEs, so he wasn’t needed there. In my opinion, the defense was noticeably better with then-Freshman Dan Connor at the OLB position instead of Wake.

Line him up at a DE or OLB position and tell him to go get the QB. That’s what he’s good at. If you ask him to do anything else, you might get burned.

WE ARE...

by dmoney350z on Jan 17, 2009 9:34 AM MST reply actions 0 recs

UPDATE - WAKE TO MIAMI DOLPHINS

Dolphins signed OLB/DE Cameron Wake to a four-year, $4.9 million contract. The deal includes $1 million guaranteed. It’s a low risk, high upside addition for Miami. Wake played college ball at Penn State, where he made just 8.5 career sacks. He didn’t make it the Giants as an undrafted free agent in 2005, but blossomed in the CFL. Wake rang up 23 sacks for the BC Lions last season. The Dolphins will likely start Wake out at outside linebacker and have him push incumbent Matt Roth.

by PSURob on Jan 19, 2009 10:26 AM MST reply actions 0 recs